Police say West Haven man bilked California woman

GREENWICH —A West Haven man faces forgery charges after allegedly using an email scam to dupe a California woman out of $13,800.

According to the man’s arrest report, Greenwich police were alerted that the funds had been sent to a pharmacy in Cos Cob via UPS, and officers were ready to make an arrest when a man showed up to pick up the parcel of cash.

Hardikummar Patel, 29, of Admiral Street, West Haven was charged Jan. 13 with criminal attempt at second degree larceny as well as numerous counts of forgery.

Greenwich police Lt. Patrick Smyth said a 67-year-old woman from Modesto fell for an email scam beginning when she was sent the message “Your bank account has been hacked, send money.” The woman eventually contacted Modesto police, who alerted Greenwich police.

After Patel was arrested, police said, he was found to be in possession of numerous fraudulent California drivers’ licenses, leading to the forgery charges. He was also in the company of a young person in the Uber car he took to the store in Cos Cob, police said, leading to a charge of risk of injury to a minor. All the charges against him are felonies.

Smyth said phishing scams such as this one have increased dramatically in recent months, warning people never to send money without contacting bank personnel first. Scammers have been using increasingly sophisticated methods to trick people into sending money or divulging personal financial information, and they are able to use seemingly legitimate email accounts in their criminal activities, he said.

Operators of various email and texting scams can be difficult to apprehend, Smyth said, as victims often realize too late that they’ve scammed. “The timing is important,” he said.

Patel was able to post a 10 percent cash bond on $10,000 bail, and was released from custody.

Greenwich police said a 67-year-old woman from Modesto fell for an email scam when she was sent the message “Your bank account has been hacked, send money.”